Technological progress on embodied carbon emissions in Sino-Korea trade from industry perspective: input–output and structural decomposition analysis

The fast growth of trade cooperation between countries around the world has helped national economies grow, but it has also led to more carbon emissions that are carried by trade. In this case, there needs to be a balance between growing the economy and protecting the environment so that paths for sustainable growth can be looked into. It is the goal of this study to find out how changes in technology and other things have affected the trade-embodied carbon pollution of various Chinese and Korean industries. So, we need to find a good way to grow the business while also taking care of the earth. To find out what makes embodied carbon pollution happen in trade between China and Korea, the multi-regional input–output model and structural decomposition analysis are used. The study found that when China and Korea did business together, many Korean industries sent carbon emissions to China. China had to deal with more carbon emissions because of this. Second, most of the carbon in the things that China and Korea trade with each other is in the second and third levels of production. Third, the carbon emission technology effect clearly lowers carbon emissions from industries that depend on knowledge first, then industries that depend on capital, and finally services. It’s not clear what part and direction the effect of intermediate production technology plays. However, the technological progress effect, which consists of the two together, suppresses how much carbon China and Korea actually put into the air.